Tripura CPI(M) to hold rally in Agartala tomorrow despite no venue clearance by police

The main opposition party in Tripura, CPI(M) as part of its three-day 24th state conference will hold a mega public gathering here on Wednesday even as the BJP government has not allotted any venue for the meeting. 

CPI(M) politburo member and former Chief Minister (1998-2018) Manik Sarkar and party’s state Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury separately said that at any cost the mass public meeting would be held here.

“We have alternatively sought permission from the police to allot any of the three venues to hold the public gathering but the police have yet to give permission for any of the locations. They are giving one after another excuse for not allotting the venue,” said Chaudhury, who is also the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state.

Chaudhury said the party had applied a month ago for permission to hold a public meeting on January 29 at Swami Vivekananda Maidan Stadium in Agartala. He said, "The state government denied the request, citing a pre-scheduled Self-Help Group (SHG) fair at the same venue and then we sought permission for another two venues but that too was also rejected."

The LoP alleged that the denial was politically motivated, suggesting that the government fears a large turnout of citizens dissatisfied with its performance.

He claimed that the SHG fair was scheduled deliberately to coincide with the CPI(M)’s event, asserting that the fair could have been rescheduled or could be organised at any other venue to accommodate the party rally.

The CPI(M) leader also said that when he approached Chief Minister Manik Saha to request an alternative venue, Umakanth school ground, the Chief Minister initially promised to look into the request but formal permission from the police was yet to be given.

Chaudhury, who is also the CPI(M) central committee member and former minister, claimed that the “BJP-backed goons” destroyed the flags, festoons, banners, and decorative gates put up in connection with the three-day state conference.

Party politburo members Prakash Karat, Manik Sarkar, Chaudhury and other senior leaders will address the public rally here on Wednesday. Former Chief Minister Sarkar criticised the BJP-led government, accusing it of failing to deliver on the promises made to the people before coming to power in 2018.

Both Sarkar and Chaudhury strongly criticised the “undemocratic mentality of the BJP government”.

A CPI(M) leader said that ahead of the 24th congress of the CPI(M), conferences of all state committees across the country have to be completed, and before the state conference, the process of formation of branch, local, divisional and district committees have to be done.

The CPI (M)’s 24th congress will be held from April 2 to 6, 2025 in Madurai. According to the leader, the three-day 24th state conference would be held from January 29 to 31 in Agartala. After the BJP came to power in 2018, the 24th CPI(M) state conference is the second such meeting in Tripura.

The party leader said that in the state conference, the Left party would finalise the roadmap of the party’s future strategies and programmes to highlight the “misgovernance of the ruling BJP and various basic issues of the people".

The CPI(M)-led Left Front was in power in Tripura for 35 years in two phases -- 1978 to 1988 and 1993 to 2018. The Left parties suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2018 and 2023 Assembly elections and the BJP-Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) coalition came into power.